Drippage and texture - art journal pages

I really love creating all kinds of texture in my art journalling. There is something soothing about a page you can feel as much as you can see it. I love taking my books and flip through them, sometimes just to feel the pages. I guess I'm a little peculiar that way.

Actually, I even think, next to making the pages, the flipping through the books is the biggest perk of having an art journal. I made many paintings over the years and I usualy create lots of texture in them. Don't get me wrong, I love making them, but when they are done, they are done. You hang them somewhere and that's it. Which is ok, they have their own merit, but for now I think I'll stick to my art journals for a while.

Next to the tactile nature of art journals, I love that they are small, all different, open to experimentation and a great way  to practice new techniques. I can just go in, do somthing when I feel inspired and move on when not. They are patient and there is no pressure. The beautiful thing is, I don't even have to like what I did. There are no mistakes in art journalling.

It's always nice though when something comes out that I do like.

This page was all about texture and using some odd bits and pieces I had lying about my desk.

I just started sticking them down to the page. Some painters masking tape, some lace velvet sticker border, some embossed pieces and even baby wipes.

I put gesso over it all and then glimmer misted it with red velvet and scarlet. I love how the glimmer starts swirling about the page when you stop spraying. I found some very old india ink in the back of my closet and figured I would do some drippage.

Loved the drippage and added some spheres with the ink. Did some journalling and then felt the page was waaaaay to dark. Even the journalling was dark. 

I decided I needed to change that and found a picture of this lovely vintage lady and a dragonfly. After I added the pretty, fairie like, lady with some tulle and the dragonfly, I started thinking about colour. I let the dragonfly guide me, as dragonflies often have the most wonderful blue and green colours. So out came the acrylic paints. Some blue and ochre. The green was mixed by adding some ochre to the blue.

Added the words "live life" and some gold paint pen. 

It is still a dark page but I felt a lot lighter after that. I even went on to do another page.

This time I started out with a page I had, mistakenly, made orange with soft pastels. To get rid of the orange I went over it with gold acrylic, then made some green balls with a home made stencil. Slammed the pages together. Peeled them apart again, leaving some lovely texture. Stuck some dictionary pieces down and several things I had lying around. 

By now you must think I have a hugely messy desk...and you'd be right. Sometimes a mess is very useful =). 

I added a white wash with gesso and then did the drippy thing again. On both top and bottom. Did some journalling, added some stamps and gears and the word home. You may think this to be strange, but to me, home is the safe haven that lies behind the door.

You could almost go through the door. On to the peace and calm that lies behind it.

I like how the drippage works with the corrigated board. I also like doing the drippage thingy. It makes me happy doing it, but it confuses me how it can make the pages all dark and gloomy. Maybe it's just me and I need to explore it a little further. Preferably on a sunny day.

Even though they are not "pretty" pages, I do like how they turned out. I am glad journal pages do not have to be "pretty", it leaves so much room for experimentation. I feel It's all part of the journey.

Thank you for watching and I wish you a lovely weekend.